A few years back I began to notice a new trend. A number of prospective clients began contacting us not for themselves, but for someone they cared for, admired, or championed. They were calling to give a PR campaign as a holiday gift. Over the years, we’ve had a number of spouses pay for a media relations campaign for their significant others, but these calls I’m referring to were not from spouses or parents, or partners, but from friends, or from people who admired an artist’s work and wanted to give his or her career a holiday helping hand.
When I’ve asked what prompted these holiday PR gift givers to consider giving a public relations campaign as a opposed to a more traditional gift, their responses were strikingly similar. To paraphrase, they explained that they knew how important their friend’s career was to him or her and that they wanted to do something to spur them along and help them achieve their dream.
Then there is a third category, artists who decided to give a gift to themselves and their works. As an artist he knew needed to invest in marketing to take his works to the next level, but he never felt that he could take that step and actually commit to a PR campaign. When he framed it as a gift to himself, he was able to give himself permission.
But most were gifts to others. As one explained, “It’s not a tangible gift that you can unwrap and I realize it’s not a gift that comes with guarantees, but if I can help her get the word out about her and her art and take her career to the next level, that would be the best gift I could possibly give her. I don’t think she’d invest in herself this way, so I decided I’d invest for her.”
Another gift giver was focused more on the art than then artist. As she explained, she felt the work was important and deserved a true shot at getting in front of collectors, galleries and the public at large. She viewed it more as a gift to art and the art world than a gift to the artist.
It’s amazing to hear these stories and see these acts of generosity.
There is no humbug here. The holiday spirit burns brightly and gift givers become more creative and thoughtful.
These are gifts that give to us all.
Gifts of art.
Copyright © PR FOR ARTISTS 2015